Cardioneuroablation in patients with vasovagal syncope: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Cardioneuroablation (CNA) is a novel procedure that shows promising results in reducing syncope recurrence in patients with refractory vasovagal syncope (VVS). However, its effectiveness and safety remain controversial.

Objective: We performed an updated meta-analysis evaluating CNA efficacy and safety in patients with refractory VVS.

Brain volumes and white matter diffusion across the adult lifespan in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Objective: Typical aging is associated with gradual cognitive decline and changes in brain structure. The observation that cognitive performance in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients diverges from controls early in life with subsequent decline running in parallel would suggest an initial insult but does not support accelerated decline secondary to seizures. Whether TLE patients demonstrate similar trajectories of age-related gray (GM) and white matter (WM) changes as compared to healthy controls remains uncertain.

Telemedicine for Individuals with epilepsy: Recommendations from the International League Against Epilepsy Telemedicine Task Force.

Worldwide, People with Epilepsy (PWE) are confronted with several barriers to face-to-face consultations. These obstacles hamper appropriate clinical follow-up and also increase the treatment gap for Epilepsy. Telemedicine holds the potential to enhance management as follow-up visits for PWE are focused on more on clinical history and counselling rather than physical examination.

Gut microbiome in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Background: Neuropsychiatric disorders are a significant cause of death and disability worldwide. The mechanisms underlying these disorders include a constellation of structural, infectious, immunological, metabolic, and genetic etiologies. Advances in next-generation sequencing techniques have demonstrated that the composition of the enteric microbiome is dynamic and plays a pivotal role in host homeostasis and several diseases.

Utility of Functional MRI and Magnetoencephalography in the Diagnosis of Infantile Spasms and Hypsarrhythmia.

Neuroimaging and neurophysiology techniques can add a significant contribution to the comprehension of infantile spasms (IS) and hypsarrhythmia. Functional MRI and magnetoencephalography (MEG) are two noninvasive tools that can be used in young children with IS. In the past two decades, interesting data about IS have emerged from functional MRI and MEG studies.

Gas6 drives Zika virus-induced neurological complications in humans and congenital syndrome in immunocompetent mice.

Zika virus (ZIKV) has the ability to cross placental and brain barriers, causing congenital malformations in neonates and neurological disorders in adults. However, the pathogenic mechanisms of ZIKV-induced neurological complications in adults and congenital malformations are still not fully understood. Gas6 is a soluble TAM receptor ligand able to promote flavivirus internalization and downregulation of immune responses.

Inflammatory and neurotrophic factor plasma levels are related to epilepsy independently of etiology.

Objective: Inflammation plays an essential role in epilepsy. Studies indicate that cytokines and neurotrophic factors can act in neuroexcitability and epileptogenesis. We aimed to investigate the association between plasma inflammatory and neurotrophic markers, seizure frequency, and chronic epilepsy subtypes.

Cerebral Structure and Function in Stroke-free Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.

Objectives: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with high risk of dementia and brain atrophy in stroke-free patients, but the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. We aimed to examine the brain volume and connectivity of paramount cognitive brain networks in stroke-free patients with AF without dementia.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-six stroke-free patients with AF and 26 age and sex-matched subjects without AF were submitted to a 3-tesla brain structural and functional MRI.

Multimodal Analysis of Missense Variants Improves Interpretation of Clinically Relevant Variants in Dravet Syndrome.

We aimed to improve the classification of missense variants in patients with Dravet syndrome (DS) by combining and modifying the current variants classification criteria to minimize inconclusive test results. We established a score classification workflow based on evidence of pathogenicity to adapt the classification of DS-related missense variants. In addition, we compiled the variants reported in the literature and our cohort and assessed the proposed pathogenic classification criteria.

Corrigendum: Potential Clinical Benefits of CBD-Rich Extracts Over Purified CBD in Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy: Observational Data Meta-analysis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2018.

Potential Clinical Benefits of CBD-Rich Extracts Over Purified CBD in Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy: Observational Data Meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis paper describes the analysis of observational clinical studies on the treatment of refractory epilepsy with cannabidiol (CBD)-based products. Beyond attempting to establish the safety and efficacy of such products, we also investigated if there is enough evidence to assume any difference in efficacy between CBD-rich extracts compared to purified CBD products. The systematic search took place in February/2017 and updated in December/2017 using the keywords "epilepsy" or "Dravet" or "Lennox-Gastaut" or "CDKL5" combined with "Cannabis," "cannabinoid," "cannabidiol," or "CBD" resulting in 199 papers.

Higher IQ in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: Dodging cognitive obstacles and "masking" impairments.

Executive deficits and impulsiveness are extensively reported in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). Previous literature suggests that intelligence may mediate these deficits. In this study, we evaluated and compared the performance of adults with JME with high and low intelligence quotient (IQ) and controls on tasks for executive function (EF) and impulsive traits.

Default Mode Network Disruption in Stroke-Free Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a widely accepted risk for causing stroke. However, recent studies show AF as a risk factor for dementia, even without causing stroke. The mechanisms by which dementia develops in stroke-free patients with AF are still poorly understood and the association of AF with abnormal function of brain networks activities, such as the default mode network (DMN), has not been previously studied.

Is inpatient ictal video-electroencephalographic monitoring mandatory in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis? A prospective study.

Objective: To compare surgical outcome in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) patients with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) who had or did not have preoperative video-electroencephalographic monitoring (VEEG).

Methods: A prospective study was undertaken with 166 consecutive pharmacoresistant unilateral MTLE-HS patients. All patients were investigated with detailed seizure semiology, serial routine outpatient EEG, magnetic resonance imaging, neuropsychological evaluation, and if necessary, other examinations.

Sleep onset uncovers thalamic abnormalities in patients with idiopathic generalised epilepsy.

The thalamus is crucial for sleep regulation and the pathophysiology of idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE), and may serve as the underlying basis for the links between the two. We investigated this using EEG-fMRI and a specific emphasis on the role and functional connectivity (FC) of the thalamus. We defined three types of thalamic FC: thalamocortical, inter-hemispheric thalamic, and intra-hemispheric thalamic.

MicroRNA hsa-miR-134 is a circulating biomarker for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Epilepsy is misdiagnosed in up to 25% of patients, leading to serious and long-lasting consequences. Recently, circulating microRNAs have emerged as potential biomarkers in a number of clinical scenarios. The purpose of this study was to identify and to validate circulating microRNAs that could be used as biomarkers in the diagnosis of epilepsy.

Translation and validation into Brazilian Portuguese of the Spastic Paraplegia Rating Scale (SPRS).

Objective: To translate and validate the Spastic Paraplegia Rating Scale (SPRS) into Brazilian-Portuguese.

Method: Two experienced and English-fluent neurologists translated SPRS into Portuguese, creating SPRS-BR. We then assessed inter and intra-rater reliability of this version using coefficients of correlation and variability in a cohort of 30 patients.

Large-scale brain networks are distinctly affected in right and left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) with hippocampus sclerosis (HS) is associated with functional and structural alterations extending beyond the temporal regions and abnormal pattern of brain resting state networks (RSNs) connectivity. We hypothesized that the interaction of large-scale RSNs is differently affected in patients with right- and left-MTLE with HS compared to controls. We aimed to determine and characterize these alterations through the analysis of 12 RSNs, functionally parceled in 70 regions of interest (ROIs), from resting-state functional-MRIs of 99 subjects (52 controls, 26 right- and 21 left-MTLE patients with HS).